THE NEXT STELLA McCARTNEY COULD BE DESIGNING YOUR CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS

Next year the Christmas Decorations in your centre may be designed by a
famous architect, designer or writer of the future.

In a groundbreaking 3 year exclusive sponsorship LDJ Design & Display, the
UK’s leading retail decorations company is joining forces with Central Saint
Martins College of Art & Design, the UK’s foremost art and design college to research, design and develop tomorrow’s retail Christmas experience today.

Central Saint Martins - which includes amongst its alumni such famous names as Stella McCartney, Terence Conran, Peter Blake, Alexander McQueen, Lucian Freud,, John Galliano, Pierce Brosnan, Mike Leigh, Gerald Scarfe A A Gill, Hussein Chalayan, Simon Callow and Matthew Williamson - will be working with LDJ on a range of projects over the next 3 years aimed at improving the whole experience and look of Christmas within shopping centres.

LDJ’s managing director, Caroline Gamester, - herself a trained fashion designer who includes a stint working for Donna Karan in New York on her CV – said “ We always aim to stay one step ahead of our competition in bringing our clients new idea’s and what better way to do this than by working with a group of the brightest young creative minds around. Central Saint Martins also have wonderful contacts with a whole range of cutting edge technology companies and research institutes”

The particular course that LDJ have chosen to work with is the MA Creative Practise for Narrative Environments which pioneers collaborative practise among architects, designers, curators, writers and project managers.

But what is a narrative environment? Tricia Austin the course director at Central Saint Martins explains – “ A narrative environment is about unfolding stories into spaces The course is based on the premise that all environments, such as shopping centres, tell stories and that narrative is a fundamental and accessible way for people to make sense of places. Stories are implicit in the materials, structures, text, images, film, signs, sounds, sequences and uses of space.”

Tricia Austin continues – “We’re thrilled at the opportunity LDJ’s sponsorship gives our students to work together with them on real projects for real places.
Our collaboration with LDJ gives us the ideal opportunity to unfold the story of Christmas and its memories of childhood, joy and celebration and the giving of gifts into a shopping centre environment with the aim of increasing the number of visitors to that centre by providing a truly memorable experience”.

The course, which only started 3 years ago, is building an impressive reputation having already worked on commercial projects such as “The Airport of the Future” with Arup, “Arts Space of the Future” with Arts Council England and “The Stairway to Heaven” wayfinding system installed for the Hayward Gallery as well as winning the Royal Philharmonic Music Education Award for the PLAY.orchestra installation at the Southbank Centre.

To sum things up Caroline Gamester said – “I believe this will only be the start of a long term association between LDJ and Central St Martins which I’m sure will generate a host of exciting, creative and innovative ideas for our clients”.

ENDS

For further information please contact:

Caroline Gamester at LDJ on 01756 693905 or at caroline@ldj-display.com

Or

Tricia Austin at Central St Martins on 0207 514 7000 or at p.austin@csm.arts.ac.uk

Notes to Editors

LDJ
Founded in 1987 by a brother and sister as the UK’s first professional Christmas display company, LDJ is now the market leader in the design, production and installation of commercial retail decorations, lighting displays and animation with over 100 shopping centre clients across the UK and Ireland. Based in Skipton, LDJ Design & Display Ltd was purchased by Trevor Smallwood (founder of the First Group) in 2002.

Central Saint Martins
Formed in 1989 from the merger of two, much older, colleges: the Central School of Arts & Crafts (founded in 1896) and St Martins School of Art (founded in 1854) Central Saint Martins provides specialist education and research in the fields of fine art, fashion & textiles, film, video and photography, graphics & communication design, three dimensional design, theatre & performance and interdisciplinary art & design. From the iconic designs of London’s red Routemaster buses and the chopper bike to theatrical productions like Phantom of the Opera and exquisite fashion at Dior and Chloe in Paris Central Saint Martins alumni have made a profound impact on our lives. Today the college attracts students from all over the world..

Straight Line v Loop Construction

We've been asked by a number of customers to explain the difference between "straight line" and "loop" construction.
For "straight line" construction imagine a piece of string with two ends. The lights would go all along the string and there would be a plug at one end. Lights made in this way are often called "string" lights and can be used in almost any situation indoors or outside - on Christmas trees, outdoor trees or plants, around windows, across a mantlepiece etc
For "loop" construction imagine joining the two ends of the string together to make a loop. Again the lights would go all along the string but the plug would be where the two ends come together. Lights made in this way are great for Christmas trees but if you want to use them in a line - say across a mantlepiece, or around a window - they will only reach to half the length of "straight line" lights.
All our lights, with the exception of our Classic Fairy Lights are made in "straight line" construction as we think this is the most versatile.

LDJ To Light Up The Web

LDJ, the UK’s leading supplier of Christmas lights, decorations and animated displays to major shopping centres throughout the UK and Eire announced the opening of it’s first Online E-Commerce shop at www.ldj-lights.co.uk

Caroline Gamester, LDJs managing director said “We’re thrilled to be able to offer Christmas lights of the same quality as we use in our major commercial displays for people to use at home”

LDJ Lights developed the range using the same exclusive factories as those supplying it’s major displays and they will all be manufactured and tested to the same rigorous standards.
As Caroline pointed out “If we have to take lights down in a shopping centre because they are faulty it costs us about £1000 each time so we have a huge incentive to make sure they work perfectly every time. They also have to be designed to operate almost continuously from late October until Christmas every day, each year for up to 5 years”.

The range, which was test marketed last Christmas at Europes largest shopping centre – the Metro Centre in Gateshead – has a comprehensive range of indoor and outdoor lights, LEDs, ropelights and traditional fairy lights, which are not only perfect for Christmas but also for weddings, parties, festivals and other special occasions.

LDJ lights have also developed their own branded Starsystem Connectable lights which enable up to 3000 LEDs to be run from just one plug.

For next Christmas the company intends to add battery LEDs and Icicle lights to it’s range.

For more information go to www.ldj-lights.co.uk

New LDJ Website Powered By Root Commerce

LDJ’s new website has been developed using Root Commerce a unique system designed specially for online stores.

Andrew Lee, the deputy managing director of LDJ explains “When we decided to develop an online store we seemed to be faced with only two options; either to buy a cheap off the shelf, inflexible system or a really expensive bespoke alternative – neither of these were what we wanted”. After a lot of searching around LDJ found the Root Commerce system developed by Root Solutions a Newcastle based company.

Andrew continued “Root Commerce was perfect for us in that it could be made to look exactly the way we wanted for our brand, had a really simple to use administration system, and was easy to navigate for our customers”.

LDJ were also very concerned about security of personal data for shoppers on the site. Here Root Solutions suggested using Google Checkout as the safest and most secure option for taking payments as it did not involve the company in having to develop its own expensive and difficult to maintain data protection systems.

Having launched the site LDJ are now working with Root Solutions on Search Engine Optimisation and also to develop online stores on both Amazon and Ebay.

In summing everything up Andrew Lee said “Root Solutions have provided us with a One Stop Shop for our new online store which is not only stylish but also meets all our commercial requirements”

To vist the LDJ store go to www.ldj-lights.co.uk

For more information on Root Commerce and Root Solutions go to www.rootsol.com

Some Safety Tips

We take safety really seriously. All our lights comply with all the relevent parts of the latest EU and UK legislation. We also go personally to the exclusive factories we use to inspect the quality of each shipment before the lights are despatched. All our lights are double insulated for your safety.

When we talk to health & Safety inspectors we find that most accidents in the home occur when using old lights either because they were made before the latest legislation or because they have become damaged. Please make sure you check old lights carefully to make sure they are in perfect working order before you use them

For your own safety we also suggest that you follow a few simple and commonsense guidelines when using ours, or anybody else's lights.

Always read and follow the instructions on the box and the label attached to the plug
Do not connect the set electrically to any other set
Do not connect the power to the lights while they are in the box
Do allow adequate airflow around each bulb
Never use indoor lights outside
Don't allow children to play with the lights
For a full list of Do's and Dont's please go to the safety section on our website

Introducing the LDJ Lights Website

LDJ are pleased to announce the launch of our brand new online store - ldj-lights.co.uk.

You'll be able to find a complete range of indoor and outdoor lights for Christmas, Weddings, Parties, Festivals, or simply to add stylish decoration to your home or garden.

All the lights in our online store have been designed and tested to the same rigorous standards that we use for our major displays in shopping centres around the UK and Ireland. We source these lights from our own exclusive factories around the world to ensure that we can always bring you the best possible value for money and quality.

We can also assure you that we operate our business to the highest environmental and ethical standards. For more information on our ethical and environmental policy, please click here.

We hope that you'll enjoy all the lights you buy from us for many years to come. Please revisit / subscribe to our blog for all the latest news on LDJ, along with new products and frequently asked questions and advice.